MILFORD — Joseph A. Ukanowicz, 30, apologized to the court and his family and was sent to prison for first-degree larceny for ruining the home and finances of his grandmother, Karin King of Ansonia.

“I’m sorry for everything. I’ve had a lot of time to think,” he said. “The drugs, the stealing, I’ve learned that’s not the way to be.”

Ukanowicz was sentenced Thursday by Superior Court Judge Frank Iannotti to 12 years in prison, suspended after 63 months, with five years of probation.

His mother, Kristina Ukanowicz, 63, was sentenced by Iannotti on May 25 to serve 12 years in prison, suspended after 4½ years.

Investigators found King’s finances depleted and her house without power or running water. The copper pipes were removed and the furniture was sold off. An abandoned car and a filled dumpster were in the yard, Assistant State’s Attorney Amy Bepko told the judge.

Joseph Ukanowicz lived with King in her Hull Street home with his mother, girlfriend and son, Bepko said. King died at age 84 in June 2015. Kristina and Joseph Ukanowicz were arrested in 2017. He had been held in lieu of $50,000 bail at Bridgeport Correctional Center.

The two did not have King’s approval to use the funds for themselves, his arrest warrant affidavit said. Almost $200,000 was taken from her accounts, it said.

Before the sentencing, Bepko presented the state’s case.

The money was used to “support his heroin habit,” Bepko said. Ukanowicz’s prior arrest record includes drug charges; while he has been in jail he has seven disciplinary tickets, Bepko said.

King had been living comfortably on her own, with rental income and investments. Then Kristina Ukanowicz; her husband; her son and his family of two moved in with her. They would care for her, while they got back on their feet, Bepko said.

Then the tenants on the first and third floors were “kicked out,” and King called police in 2015. The home was “dismantled,” Bepko said. There was no heat.

King contracted pneumonia and was hospitalized. She told her son, “‘I don’t want to go home,’” Bepko said. The bank accounts were drained and closed. “She had enough to last for the rest of her life,” Bepko said.

The King family wanted the maximum punishment for Ukanowicz, Bepko told the judge. “Their mother may have had more time if she had been treated fairly,” Bepko said.

Public Defender Susan Brown painted a picture of a man unable to do anything about his drug use.

“He is deeply sorry for his part in this,” Brown said.

When it was his turn to speak, Ukanowicz apologized to his family. His grandmother was “always there” for him, he said.

Before handing down the sentence, Iannotti told Ukanowicz: “You said all the right things ... in the right way. The only way you can move forward ... is upon your release you live them out.

“I remain in disbelief that a young man and his mother can do such a thing to the family, and her mother. It’s hard to listen to. It’s not supposed to be what family is about. ... You turned on them.”

“Have you thought about how your grandmother ... had to leave this world? If that doesn’t bother you, ... there’s something wrong with you. We have an obligation to the elderly to respect them,” the judge said.

“Quite honestly, I could go on about how much this is troublesome.”

First, he said, “You are going to have to look at yourself in the mirror another 50 years.” Ukanowicz is going to have to decide how much to explain his actions to his son, the judge said.